Is There a Tick on Me?

While in Vermont this weekend, enjoying the beautiful outdoors and soaking in the picturesque country vistas, with endless green forests and postcard-perfect mountains, all my brain could register was is there a tick on me?! Honesty, all weekend long I quietly freaked out every time my sneakered foot fell even somewhat close to the edges of roadside brush or tall grass. I swear I'm not a crazy hermit, and do love the outdoors, but Kevin and his uncle John (who's home in East Dorset we stayed at) kept yammering on about the dangers of picking up deer & horse ticks the size of a pin out in the fields (no doubt just to goad me on), filling my head with nightmarish scenes of waking up to the bullseye-shaped rash of Lyme Disease. Ultimately, frantically searching my arms and legs for a teensy black dot every night proved fruitless & psychotic. So far, no proof of tick life. But enough about ticks. To start off more appropriately, the 4-hour journey by car began as any good road trip should: with kettle corn.

While KSchneid drove the whole way (my driver's license is just for show), I helped navigate.

Those stellar navigation skills really paid off when we arrived at our destination 45 minutes early with plenty of kettle corn left (never mind the built-in GPS). As we drove through the sleepy town of East Dorset it felt like stepping into a time machine. Every home like a dollhouse very carefully preserved.

As we crested a steep hill, this little beauty came into view. Kevin's uncle and aunt live here. With their own apple orchard. Seriously.

The above three photos taken by Kevin's uncle this past spring (hence the blooming apple trees!)

Ready to shed our city selves and soak in the literal postcard we'd stepped into, it only felt right to venture down to the orchard and pretend to pick apples.

Silently petrified I'd picked up a tick along the way (every apple now starting to look evil), the pretend apple picking came to an end with the delicious wafts of grilled veggies and skewers drifting down from the back porch.

As we munched dinner al fresco, our eyes got a chance to feast too.

Most importantly, no ticks were involved in the making of this post.

More of our Vermont (mis)adventures later this week!

*In case you missed Friday's post in the hullabaloo of holiday weekend travel, check it out here. Wouldn't want you overlooking such life-changing discoveries as the accent nail.

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